Sifter.



PATENTED JULY 3, 1906'.y

W. N. TRELEAVEN.

SIPTER.

APPLIOATION FILED naaf/,1906.

1HE Namzls Perl-:Rs co.. wAsmNaruN. D. c,

IINITEI) STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER N. TRELEAVEN, .OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO IDEAL SIFTERCOMPANY, -OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

SIFTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 1906.

To 1J/Z whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER N. TRE- LEAVEN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sifters, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the construction of sifterssuch as are commonly used, more particularly for culinary p'uilposes, asin sifting flour and other materia s.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a novel and simpleconstruction of sifter of the kind adapted to be held in and operated byone hand to leave the other hand of the operator free to perform thestirring as -the material is being sifted.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a broken perspective view'ofmy improved sifter, Fig. 2, a plan section taken at the line 2 on Fig. 1and viewed in the direction of the arrow; and Fig. 3, an enlargedvertical section of the base portion of the sifter, the section beingtaken at the line 3 on Fig. 1 and viewed in the direction of the arrow.

4 is the shell or body portion of the sifter, preferably of cylindricalform and open at its base, the upper end 5 being shown as scoopshaped.At a suitable distance above the base is attached a handle 6, and toinsure rigidity of the same I solder or otherwise fasten a brace orstrut 7 to the under side thereof and to the body portion 4.

Within the shell at a suitable distance above its open bottom is placeda screen 8 of desired mesh, and as a referred manner of securing thescreen in p ace I form a ring or band 9 (see Fig. 3) and extend thescreen, which is preferably cut to a size somewhat larger than thediameter of the shell 4, across the top of said ring and then turn theoverlapping edge portion ofthe screen downward to closely hug theperipheral surface of the band or ring 9. The screen and rin are theninserted into the lower portion of t e shell 4 until the former meetsthe annular shoulder 10, formed by the beading of the shell near itsbase. The width of the ring 9 bein somewhat greater than the distancefrom t e bottom of the shell to the shoulder 10 will leave a portion ofthe ring after its insertion into position projecting below the shell.This projecting ring portion is then spun or ,crimped around the shell4at 11 (see Fig. 3) to firmly clamp the parts together, althoughsoldering may be employed as well to further insure securing a perfectunion.

Bearing against the inner surface of Vthe screen is an agitator 12,preferably formed of wire, one end vter-minating in a hook or finger-Urasp 13, which rojects through a slot 15, formed in the she l adjacentto the handle 6. The other end of the agitator is .soldered or otherwiseattached to the shell, and near this end the wire is formed into a coil14 for the purpose of affording a spring which tends to return theagitator to and hold it yieldingly in the normal position shown in Figs.1 and 2 and to exert a pressure of the agitator against the surface ofthe screen 8 of the sifter. Between the coil 14 and the free end of theagitator or linger-grasp 13 the wire is bent back and forth upon itselfto cross the screen repeatedly at comparatively close intervals, therebypresenting an extensive rubbing-surface of the agitator to the surfaceof the screen for the purpose of operating more expeditiously in siftingthe material being treated through the screen by the manipulation of theagitator.

In forming the slot 15 in the shell 4 I prefer to do so by slitting thelatter, then turning inwardly the edges thus formed, thereby providingflanges 16 both above and below the slot to afford greater bearing andwearing surfaces for the free end of the agitator. It is obvious thatthe slot should be of such a width as to insure freedom of action of theagitator within the same while being manipulated by the operator and atthe same time to prevent the agitator from being sprung away from andout of contact with the screen.

To operate the sifter, the handle is gras ed in one hand-say the lefthand-and a ter the shell has been filled wholly or in part with materialto be sifted the projecting end portion or finger-grasp of the agitatoris engaged by the index-finger of the hand holding the handle 6 andpulled toward the same and returned by the resilient action of the coil14 to the opposite or reverse position as illustrated, in Fig. 1 of thedrawings, upon release of the finger. This operation is repeated whilethe sifting is being done, and if the fingergrasp is suddenly and fullyreleased each time after being drawn toward the handle, as it may be, itwill be seen that the sifting action Will be enhanced by the j arproduced by forcible encounter of the agitator under the force of thespring with or its abutment against the inner Wall of the body 4. Thisneed not be done, however, as the finger may remain in constantengagement With the iinger-grasp, thereby preventing the same from suchencounter. Which the construction renders possible, is oftentimesadvantageous, since the sifting action is more or less vigorous underthe diffferent manipulations of the agitator, thus permitting to theoperator greater control of the sifter to enable him thereby to regulateat Will the amount of material passing through it.

The construction shown and described may be variously modiiied Withoutdeparture from the spirit of my invention.

This variety of operation,

What I claim as'neW, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a sifter, the combination of a shellopen at both ends andprovidedWith a handle, a sieve extending over one of said ends, a slot in theshell adjacent to said handle, and an agitator composed of a Wire bentupon itself between its ends, to extend back and forth at intervalsacross the surface of the sieve and having formed in it a coiled s ringadj acent to one end of the Wire, sai end being fastened to the shelland the opposite end of the Wire having a nger-grasp projecting throughsaid slot.

` WALTER N. TRELEAVEN.

